Malvaceae; Sterculiaceae 625 



1. Sida rhombifolia L. Kin-coji-ka. Stellate-pubcr- 1.5 cm. across, the pedicels 1-4 cm. long, jointed above the 



ulent perennial herb with terete branches; leaves narrowly middle; calyx 5-7 mm. long, infundibuliform, 5-lobed, 10- 



ovate or rhomboid-ovate, rarely oblong, 1.5-5 cm. long, 1-2 ribbed, the lobes deltoid and acute; petals obovate; fruitlets 



cm. wide, obtuse, obtusely toothed, green on upper side, paler 10, stellate-hairy on back, about 3 mm. long, 2-lobcd with an 



and rather densely stellate-pubescent beneath, the petioles 2-6 awn at apex. Aug. Kyushu (Yakushima and Tanega- 



mm. long, densely puberulent; flowers axillary, yellow, about shima). Widely distributed in the Tropics. 



4. ABUTILON Gaertn. Ichibi Zoku 



Herbs and shrubs with stellate-hairs; leaves angled or palmately lobed, sometimes cordate-orbicular; inflorescence axillary or 

 terminal, without bracteoles; calyx often subtubulose, the lobes 5, valvate; petals 5, connate and adnate at base to the staminal 

 tube; filaments free above; carpels 5 to many, the styles as many as the carpels, the ovules 2 to many in each carpel; fruitlets 



separating from the axis, sometimes awned, seeds 2 or more in each carpel, reniform. About 100 species, chiefly in the 



Tropics. 



1. Abutilon theophrasti Medik. Sida abiitilon L.; A. the tube, ovate, mucronate; fruit semiglobose, 15-20 mm. 



avicennae Gaertn. Ichibi. Velvety annual; stems 50-150 across, the fruitlets about 15 mm. long, dehiscent, membranous, 



cm. long; leaves cordate-orbicular, 5-12 cm. long and wide, hairy, with 2 ascending awns; seeds obliquely reniform, brown, 



abrupdy acuminate, deeply cordate, with obtuse shallow teeth, puberulent, about 3.5 mm. across. Aug.-Sept. Cultivated 



palmately 7- to 9-nerved; flowers axillary and terminal, short- and sometimes naturalized. s. Europe, Asia, America, and 



peduncled, yellow, about 2 cm. across; caly.\-lobes longer than Australia. 



Fam. 134. STERCULIACEAE Aogiri Ka Sterculia Family 



Trees, rarely herbs, often with stellate hairs; leaves alternate, rarely subopposite, simple, or palmately compound, usually 

 stipulate; inflorescence various; flowers bisexual or unisexual, actinomorphic; sepals 3-5, more or less connate, valvate; petals 5 

 or absent, often adnate to the staminal tube, convolute; stamens often connate into a tube at base, with as many staminodes; 

 ovary, with 2-5 (-12) united carpels; styles usually 4 or 5, distinct or united; ovules usually 2 on inner angle of each locule; fruit 



dry, rarely a berry, indehiscent or dehiscent; seeds with fleshy endosperm or none. About 50 genera, with about 750 species, 



chiefly in the tropics. 



lA. Trees; flowers unisexual, apetalous; follicles dehiscent early before maturity; styles connate, with a dilated stigma; seeds several in 

 each carpel 1 . Firniiaiia 



IB. Herbs (in ours); flowers bisexual, petaliferous; capsules globose, separating into 5 fruitlets; styles free or connate at base; seeds solitary 

 in each carpel 2. Melochia 



1. FIRMIANA Marsili Aogiri Zoku 



Deciduous trees with alternate palmately lobed leaves; flowers in large terminal panicles, 5-merous, unisexual; sepals yellow- 

 ish; petals absent; androgynophore well developed; carpels 5, free at base, connate at apex; style solitary; follicles stellately 



spreading, early dehiscent and leaflike; seeds globose, marginal on the dehiscent carpels. About 10 species, chiefly in s. 



Asia, one in Africa. 



1. Firmiana simplex (L.) W. F. Wight. Hibiscus sim- the staminate flowers connate into a tube about 12 mm. long; 



plex L.; Sterculia platanifolia L. f.; S. tomentosa Thunb.; F. androgynophore glabrous, about 5 mm. long; carpels early 



platani folia (L. f.) Schott & Endl. Aogiri. Monoecious dehiscent after anthesis, stellately spreading, narrowed to a 



tree, the branches green, the branchlets, young leaves on upper petiolelike base, exposing several marginal seeds. July. 



side, and petioles brown stellate-hairy while young; leaves Very common as a street tree, sometimes naturalized in the 



large, long-petiolate, palmately 3- to 5-lobed; panicles large, warmer parts of our area. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, and 



many-flowered, yellowish brown villous; flowers yellowish; se- Indochina, 

 pals 5, rcflexed, linear-oblong, about 1.5 cm. long; filaments of 



2. MELOCfflA L. Noji-aoi Zoku 



Woody or herbaceous, with simple and stellate hairs; leaves ovate or cordate, serrate; flowers usually small, 5-merous, in 

 axillary or terminal subcapitate inflorescences; calyx 5-lobed or -toothed; petals spathulate or oblong; stamens opposite the 

 petals, connate at base, the staminodes absent or toothlike; ovary sessile or short-stiped, 5-locular, with 2 ovules in each locule; 

 styles 5, free or connate at base; capsules loculicidally dehiscent, 5-valved, the seeds solitary in each locule, obovoid, with scanty 

 endosperm. About 60 species, chiefly in the Tropics. 



1. Melochia corchorifolia L. M. concatcnata L. obtuse, the larger ones often shallowly and obsoletely 3-fid, 



Noji-.^oi. Loosely stellate-pilose branched annual 30-60 cm. irregularly toothed, coarsely hirsute on midrib on upper side 



high; leaves broadly ovate, or in the upper ones narrowly 3- and on nerves beneath; flowers in capitate inflorescences in 



angled ovate, 2.5-6 cm. long, 1.5-5 cm. wide, acute to sub- upper axils and terminal, the bracteoles 4, subulate-linear. 



